chuck123wapati

beautiful work friend that will be a lifetime gift.

yes silicone carbide wet dry paper i believe is the type i use. Diamond stones are excellent I use them as well and even carry a small round one for my pocket knives. But beware very hard steels can actually take the diamonds right off your stone. I use oil stones also as that is just what i am used to using, clean them by applying some oil then wipe them down if really bad you may need to oil and sand them to get out the crud. They clog when you start running out of lube and the filings start to look like mud.

I use "sandpaper" that is not made of sand that is for sanding wood. the "sandpaper" i use is made for metal! I make knives and anyone who does uses a BELT SANDER of some type to form the blade and they use "sandpaper" to finish it as well. The logic i use is very simple get some spray adhesive spray a lil spot near or on your granite slab and stick a piece of 2500 grit "sandpaper" to it then as you work you can strop your tool on this quickly and cleanly and neatly and go on about your business. Now your reason for buying it is the same as mine its cheap and it works and that is what it is made for! Your stones clog because you dont use a liquid , oil or water or beer or whatever to keep the metal shavings in suspension or you don't clean them off and re apply . All that being said as I stated a few posts ago we are a passionate bunch about sharpening, we all have our ways and they all obviously work so then what is the factor that makes all the different techniques work?????? Practice. Pick one and practice.

i tell ya i get no respect, every time i group hug i get stuck with the pit.

man people are sure passionate about their sharpening.

Thanks for posting those are remarkable.

Show us a better pic of that awesome work! Its huge how many hours do you have in that?

yes this and you will also have some off ground storage as well as better strength. You can also make the legs rigid enough so you can rebuild your 350 on it by boxing it in with some ply wood on three sides, leave the front open.

Great job!!! that will definitely hold up.

you don't need jap water stones to sharpen jap made tools. water stones are excellent and if you can afford them buy them and learn to use them properly or they wont help either but the metal tool simply doesn't know where it was made and japan doesn't make or use steel any different than any other country has access to in their middle of the road tools.

practice! and get rid of the 800 grit. I have never used a strop on my leather tools until recently and i'm still out on that. I have always used a piece of 2500 grit sand paper on my granite slab and it works fine. A strop if used wrong will round the edge. same with the edge bevelers I fold a piece of 2500 grit and polish with that 800 is far to coarse. Stroping is for polishing and straightening the microscopic edge and doesnt remove material. sharpening or stone grinding as you call it is creating that edge. Now if your tool has a decent edge angle with no nicks but stroping or polishing with super fine paper wont help then you need to create the microscopic edge again with a very fine Arkansas stone. rough stones are for grinding the necessary angle finer stones create the edge after the angle is cut. 800 grit paper is more like a rough stone so you have went backwards a bit more than likely.

sweet now i have this image of the old wallet full of family pictures , before i phones. "Wanna see the kids this may take awhile" lol. Great idea and good looking card holder.

Hey folks there is a machine for sale here in our local FB upcycle for sale with table and variable speed motor Its a 111w 155 walking foot machine. $500 Bucks. I dont know squat about it or leather machines at all but am posting in case someone here wants to check it out. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1956393261178259/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_picks

go to tandys ebook site and download all the free ebooks. everything you need to know can be found there as well as how to do it. there is not much in the line of middle of the road IMO except the older used craftools from tandy but there are tons of tools not related directly to leather work that can be used that are much cheaper than "leatherworking " tools. https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/category/79/ebooks?pagenum=1

how hard or how much pressure you put on the wheel will dictate if it bogs down, you can bog any size motor down and it will result in overheating and failure. So you can also successfully grind something with a smaller motor it will just take longer because you cant push as hard against it before it bogs. I would go with the higher horse motor because it wont heat up as much if in fact you do put to much strain on it and your sanding , grinding will go much faster as a result. https://www.thefabricator.com/stampingjournal/article/cuttingweldprep/four-factors-to-consider-when-purchasing-a-grinder--you-get-what-you-pay-for

lol you can always tell a leather worker they have crappy wallets. Mine has a big dye stain right in the middle of it. Your tooling is great and the stitches arent really to bad imo.

great looking holster,

very fine work.

that is great work I use one similar that goes on my belt

Heck yea great looking!

wow that is nice indeed.

Threads may have changed but Stohlmans techniques are still spot on, everyday almost questions are asked here that are covered many times in his writings. You can get more of his stuff free on the tandy site. https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/category/79/ebooks?pagenum=1

ditto and if your worried about mold throw in some desicant pouches.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/spokeshaves I have no idea really but i would think the only dif would be blade shape maybe from wood to leather but here is a place that sells them and different blade shapes.

Welcome back friend.